Climate services to support sustainable tourism and adaptation to climate change

Abstract

Tourism is one of the largest global economic sectors, is a vital contributor to the economy of many nations, and is highly promoted as an important means of future development and poverty reduction in developing countries. The interface between climate and tourism is multifaceted and complex, with broad significance for tourist decision-making and expenditures, as well as industry marketing and operations worldwide. With the close relationship of tourism to the environment and climate, the integrated effects of climate change are anticipated to markedly affect tourism businesses and destinations, as well as the destination choices and mobility of individual tourists in the decades ahead. As recent major natural, political, and economic shocks have demonstrated, the tourism sector has relatively high adaptive capacity. Improved climate services will be vital for travelers and tourism businesses and destinations to adapt to climate change in an economically, socially, and environmentally sustainable manner. This paper outlines the range of applications of weather and climate information within the tourism sector and discusses priorities for future work to advance climate services for weather risk management and climate change adaptation for the tourism sector. © Inter-Research 2011.